This American Life about desegregation in schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Srongly disagree. Letting galloping crowding go unchecked at Deal and Wilson will be an even bigger mistake. The city needs school-within-a-school DCPS test-in middle school programs in a big way, and not just in Ward 7. Create such programs and all boats will rise with the tide.

If the correspondent is to be believed, the ONLY way to close the achievement gap is integration. If DCPS believes this (and why shouldn't they?) then there is no way they'll further reduce the Wilson feeder.

My take on her hypothesis is that school with at least some white students are better schools because of systemic racism (privilege) and no amount of money is going to bring better teachers, climate, and governmental goodwill to schools that lack diversity (i.e., are 100% minority).

Most things are taken more seriously when it affects white people because white people make others take it seriously. They do that with a combination of generational wealth, political influence and advocacy. If the solution to others empowerment is having white people break up the revolving door of their own privilege than minorities might as well keep making babies until we have enough numbers to force change because it isn't going to be given to us.

^^^^^^ Black people had to fight for civil rights they weren't just bestowed upon them benevolently by people of good conscience. That's why it bemuses me when people complain about #blacklivesmatters and how "they" should stop protesting and disrupting and making people uncomfortable. Same things were said about MLK, Malcolm X etc. Thank goodness they didn't listen.

[Anonymous]

Oh, this episode makes my blood boil. Basically, poor black kids fail because white kids have a planetarium and apparently better teachers. That's why.

[Anonymous]

I completely understand the white parents. Who wants a bunch of failing students in their class? Maybe one of them is honor student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I completely understand the white parents. Who wants a bunch of failing students in their class? Maybe one of them is honor student.

And I completely understand the parents and students who wanted out of a school system that was (illegally) in official FAIL status for nearly two decades. But these are people who "don't value education," right? So we can justify turning our backs and tuning them out. Though our family is one with options, or maybe because of that, I'd gladly pay more taxes to ensure that no student is trapped in such a hell hole. Why our culture willingly consigns citizens to a life of government dependency and/or crime is beyond me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I completely understand the white parents. Who wants a bunch of failing students in their class? Maybe one of them is honor student.

Yes! Take off the cloak so we can see who we are really speaking with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I completely understand the white parents. Who wants a bunch of failing students in their class? Maybe one of them is honor student.

Yes! Take off the cloak so we can see who we are really speaking with.

I don't agree with her but sadly, most of this city does. Look at the "cluster" options that were put forward in the boundary revision process and the ugly debate that followed just last year. Those women shouting reminded me of us. To say it's not about race? Of course it's about race. Race intertwined with poverty and generations of black families being stuck with few ways out.

[Anonymous]

I thought the episode featured very compelling stories but was overall quite simplistic.

[Anonymous]

Where I live anyone from a failing school can transfer to any other public school or the government will pay for private. How much did this change the situation? Zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: To say it's not about race? Of course it's about race. Race intertwined with poverty and generations of black families being stuck with few ways out.

Of course, it's not about the race. I would be against a bus of failing white students just the same. If it was a bus of black honor students I'd welcome them with open arms.

Who wants to screw up their own school's rankings by adding a lot of failing students? No one. Who wants to add kids in their class that can't read at the grade level, fail at tests and have behavior problems? No one. Doesn't matter what color they are.

[Anonymous]

I looked up some articles on the Normandy district because I found the podcast so shocking.

(I don't understand how the teachers could just not show up...where are they?)

Seriously, they should have just closed the school down and divided up the students to the more affluent neighboring school districts.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/a-senior-year-mostly-lost-for-a-normandy-honor-student/article_ce759a06-a979-53b6-99bd-c87a430dc339.html

[Anonymous]

Only listed to part one.

Those white parents were so gross. But I think this is about how vulnerable the middle-class feels about opportunists for their kids (and property values etc.). Note that they choose a good school but not the best most affluent school to integrate. I imagine the pushback wouldn't have been so intense of the population asked to absorb the failing students felt more secure about their own and tehir children's current and future success.

I have to say, the 10% set aside of OOB for at risk kids in high achieving wotp schools sounds pretty good now. I hope they strengthen it to 10% set aside (not 10% set aside of oob) and increase the schools' capacity and resources respectively.

As for diversity in charters. My charter has AMAZING racial diversity but not great economic diversity. In part that is because different kids of schooling philosophies appeal to different demographics. The lower ses kids in my charter do have unique struggles, but they are thriving.

[Anonymous]

People are foolishly getting the city demographics confused with the school demographics. Again the city is a small percentage more AA but the school population is overwhelmingly AA. Again, more whites don't equate that more whites will be in the school system...there's just pockets here and there. As long as there's a grouping at Deal and Wilson it is pretty much ok with those who are the bean counters. I always find it hilarious when people say to those of color that in a few years that a neighborhood will be all one color. As that's a warning or prediction, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Second Episode was basically what's happening with charters. "Please come - this school will be great!" Then, overnight, "I can't get in - and my IB school still sucks - the PS seats are being taken up by rich white people that want free PS!!!"

How does a handful of magnet/charter schools fix what is broken here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: To say it's not about race? Of course it's about race. Race intertwined with poverty and generations of black families being stuck with few ways out.

Of course, it's not about the race. I would be against a bus of failing white students just the same. If it was a bus of black honor students I'd welcome them with open arms.

[b]Who wants to screw up their own school's rankings by adding a lot of failing students? No one. Who wants to add kids in their class that can't read at the grade level, fail at tests and have behavior problems? No one. Doesn't matter what color they are.

Failing students? Did you listen to the show? The kids who have parents willing to travel 30 miles away do not have "failing students". It's the schools that are failing those kids. For the most part, parents who are going to extremes to get their kids into better schools are doing so because they value education and want more for their children. They are not unlike you...they just don't have the money to live next door to you. Separate will always be unequal.

[Anonymous]

What is different in Missouri from the local jurisdictions is how government policy has very deliberately created a lot of small jurisdictions that amplify access and forms of read-lining and funding problems.

They just don't have county schools like Fairfax and Montgomery, they have these mini systems that would be like Rockville, Potomac, Bethesda, Tackoma, Langley Park all being separate systems. When they tried to merge these systems the white population, including the white democrat that is currently governor actively fought integration.

Also the funding in Missouri is very inequitable. This was put out by Fordham, a fairly conservative think tank.

http://edexcellence.net/articles/nuance-is-complicated-but-sometimes-it-matters?utm_source=Fordham+Updates&utm_campaign=3e4d946c85-20150809_LateLateBell8_7_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d9e8246adf-3e4d946c85-70502573



For instance, compare New Jersey to Missouri. Figure 1 provides a side-by-side comparison, with local revenue on the y-axis and state revenue on the x-axis. While New Jersey provides more funding to districts with lower local revenue, Missouri provides more funding to districts with greater local revenue—and in case you believe that high-poverty districts are raising large amounts of local funding, the size and color of each bubble represent poverty rates. The highest-poverty districts in Missouri trend toward the bottom of the scatter, meaning they receive less local revenue per pupil but not necessarily more state dollars. Whereas in New Jersey, high-poverty districts trend toward the lower-right side, with low local but high state revenue.